Daniel J. Morgan, Entrepreneur; hosted kid's TV show in '60's
Rochester, NY Democrat & Chronicle
8 October 2006
Greg Livadas, Staff writer
Daniel J. Morgan, an entrepreneur who hosted a popular local
children's television program in the 1960s, died Sept. 12 [2006]
in Rochester [NY] after suffering a heart attack.
Mr. Morgan, whose projects included Florida real estate
development and the creation and marketing of a lilac-scented
perfume, was born in Rochester and graduated from Charlotte High
School and was part of the pioneer class of St. John Fisher
College.
After college, he began a career in advertising, public relations
and broadcasting.
His face and voice were used in countless commercials, many of
them national, for companies including Eastman Kodak, Xerox and
Bausch and Lomb, said his son, Charles Morgan of Brighton.
Mr. Morgan joined WOKR-TV (now WHAM-TV) shortly after the station
signed on in 1962, and his children's show, The Funny Company, ran
until 1968, said Jerry Carr, who worked with Mr. Morgan then.
"He was a great friend, a very good announcer and very religious,"
Carr said. "We were constantly playing tricks on each other."
WHAM-TV anchor Don Alhart, who met Mr. Morgan in 1967 when Alhart
joined Channel 13, said Mr. Morgan "was always the consummate
professional. Sometimes you'd have to go into a booth a half-hour
early just to say 'WOKR Channel 13 Rochester,' and he would always
approach those things very seriously. He was always smooth and
polished and he wanted to do it properly. It's kind of what an
early broadcast announcer was all about."
Eventually, Mr. Morgan moved to New York, where he continued work
in advertising and became the announcer for Bishop Fulton J.
Sheen's television show. He also served as national vice president
of Pop Warner football.
In 1973, Mr. Morgan helped form Boca Pointe Country Club in Boca
Raton, where he had a winter home.
Carr, now living in Florida, talked with Mr. Morgan regularly and
was kept informed of his many projects.
Carr said Mr. Morgan once obtained the recipe for the original
Italian Ice from his friend, Bishop Sheen, and franchised a line
of hurdy-gurdies all over the country.
"He was the entrepreneur extraordinaire," Carr said. "Whenever
he'd come up with an idea, he'd run it by me. I had a call from
him two days before he died, he said he had a program idea that
was going to blow me away."
His family said that was typical.
"He loved his work and he loved his family and he never wanted to
retire," his son said. "He was a visionary and he acted upon his
visions."
Besides his son Charles, Mr. Morgan is survived by his wife of 44
years, Judy; a daughter, Melanie Kunigan of Rochester; another
son, Ryan Morgan of Rochester; four grandchildren and many
friends.
His funeral was held at Holy Cross Church, with burial at Holy
Sepulchre Cemetery.
Donations in his memory may be made to the Holy Cross Playground
Fund, 4492 Lake Ave., Rochester, N.Y. 14612.
Bishop Sheen`s TV Series Now On Cable
Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, FL, A Tribune Newspaper
website
10 November 1990
By Carol Brzozowski, Staff Writer
Bishop Fulton Sheen, the popular and charismatic Roman Catholic
bishop who died 11 years ago, is making a comeback these days --
on television.
Some 1,700 cable affiliates of the Vision Interfaith Satellite
Network are now broadcasting reruns of Sheen's Life Is Worth
Living, the series that was enormously popular on network
televisionduring the 1950s and '60s.
Boca Raton entreprenuer and financier Dan Morgan, who was Sheen's
announcer, has spent two years marketing the bishop's material. He
has met resistance from young executives unfamiliar with the Emmy
award-winning bishop. But Morgan, chairman of Sheen Productions,
believes his efforts have finally gained some momentum.
"People now want to be part of something that's good," he says.
"Even Billy Graham called him the greatest communicator of the
century. His talks were really inspirational. He was different
than today`s evangelists because he realy inspired Americans to
think."
During Sheen's heyday, his talks were carried over 123 ABC
affiliates and 300 radio stations. He reached an estimated 30
million people a week through his broadcasts and received up to
30,000 letters a week.
Sheen began his broadcasting ministry in 1930, in the days before
myriad ministers cried on camera and begged for money. He
attracted an interdenominational following with his humor-laden,
common-sense approach.
Wearing vestments on camera, however, he did not attempt to veil
his Catholicism. And it was understood that the Vatican`s
Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith was the beneficiary
of his monetary success. Today, at the end of the programs,
donations are requested for the Bishop Fulton J. Sheen Archives at
St. Bernard`s Institute on the campus of Colgate Rochester
Divinity School.
Some 300 shows have been prepared for broadcast. At a cost of more
than $1 million, Morgan and his associates have taken Sheen`s
original tapes, which are more than 40 years old, and colorized
one-third of them. Others will remain in the original black and
white.
During a nine-week trial in early 1988, some of the Sheen tapes
were run on WPTV-Ch. 5 in West Palm Beach. The reruns came in
second in the station's ratings for its morning time period,
beaten only by Wheel of Fortune.
"It did very well for us," says station manager Bill Brooks.
"Sheen is sort of a timeless individual. (His tapes) are a nice
jewel to put in any station`s crown."
Brooks says plans are in the works to broadcast Sheen tapes at
Christmas and Easter.
In the meantime, Sheen`s programs may be viewed on the Jones Cable
system on Channel 43 at 3 p.m. Sunday, 9:30 a.m. Monday, 5 a.m.
Wednesday, and 6:30 p.m. Friday.
The Vatican has requested the tapes. Pope John Paul II asked for
two copies for a personal collection, Morgan says.
Besides the TV reruns, now being negotiated for international
release, Morgan and his associates are working on starting a
Fulton Sheen Foundation. Based on a similar organization at
Harvard University that trains politicians in the use of mass
media, the Sheen Foundation would provide free training to
priests, ministers and rabbis in giving better sermons.
Universities in several states are being considered as program
sites.
Return
to OSI history page
Return to main OSI
Strasse Organ page